JJ Lin is one of the pop stars who work with Internet companies to release albums in China.[Photo provided to China Daily]

"China has the largest number of Internet users in the world. The large population and increasing number of Internet users (represent) huge potential," says Ng.

He adds that to help the industry grow healthily, QQ Music also authorized another four online-music companies to offer legal music download services, including Kugou and Neteast Music.

On Dec 3, the company worked with Warner Music to exclusively release the latest single by JJ Lin, a Singaporean singer-songwriter. Titled Twilight, the love ballad costs 2 yuan (30 cents) for each download and sold 610,000 copies within a week.

Singer-songwriter Dou Jintong, daughter of rock star Dou Wei and pop diva Faye Wong, also released her latest single, River Run, via music platforms, including QQ Music and Kugou. In the three days following the Dec 11 release, 25,000 copies were purchased on QQ Music, each costing 2 yuan.

"The number represents a big turnaround for a country which used to have one of the highest rates in the world for illegal downloads," says Ma, of Warner Music.

He also mentions that stars like Adele and Taylor Swift have been withholding their latest album releases from streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music as a strategy to boost sales.

"The switch from physical music forms to buying and listening to music in the digital era heavily affected the music industry," Ma says.

According to Andrew Chan, a senior vice-president of Universal Music China, the fast development of music streaming has also accelerated the trend of record companies and artists working with Internet companies to release digital albums and netcasting shows live.

For example, Universal Music China cooperated with QQ Music to release a digital version of Hong Kong pop singer Jacky Cheung's Mandopop album, Wake Up Dreaming, in December last year, which sold more than 300,000 copies within four months. To celebrate the success, Cheung also held a concert in Beijing in May this year and the tickets were provided only to QQ Music's users.

"The music market in China is evolving rapidly, and through Internet companies' user bases, we can offer online and offline activity for our artists," says Chan.